Single Cell Transcriptome in Colorectal Cancer-Current Updates on Its Application in Metastasis, Chemoresistance and the Roles of Circulating Tumor Cells

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is among the most common cancer worldwide, a challenge for research, and a model for studying the molecular mechanisms involved in its development. Previously, bulk transcriptomics analyses were utilized to classify CRC based on its distinct molecular and clinicopathological features for prognosis and diagnosis of patients. The introduction of single-cell transcriptomics completely turned the table by enabling the examination of the expression levels of individual cancer cell within a single tumor. In this review, we highlighted the importance of these single-cell transcriptomics analyses as well as suggesting circulating tumor cells (CTCs) as the main focus of single-cell RNA sequencing. Characterization of these cells might reveal the intratumoral heterogeneity present in CRC while providing critical insights into cancer metastasis. To summarize, we believed the analysis of gene expression patterns of CTC from CRC at single-cell resolution holds the potential to provide key information for identification of prognostic and diagnostic markers as well as the development of precise and personalized cancer treatment.

Keywords: chemoresistance; circulating tumor cells; colorectal cancer; metastasis; single-cell RNA sequencing; tumor heterogeneity.

Figure 1

Figure representing mechanisms of distant metastatic colonization of CTCs and the genes involved in CRC (Barbazán et al., 2012; Grillet et al., 2017).